Guitar Center and Little Kids Rock Work Together to Replace Instruments Stolen from Local

GUITAR CENTER AND LITTLE KIDS ROCK WORK TOGETHER TO REPLACE INSTRUMENTS STOLEN FROM LOCAL PASADENA SECONDARY SCHOOL

— Together Guitar Center and Little Kids Rock provide guitars, speakers, microphones and more to help keep the music program alive—

Los Angeles, CA (March 31, 2015) – Guitar Center, the world’s largest musical instrument retailer, recently partnered with Little Kids Rock, a leading nonprofit music education provider to U.S. public schools, to help replace audio equipment and instruments that were stolen from the John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School earlier this month. The replacement instruments and audio gear were presented to the students and the school’s Music Director, Joel Lopez at Guitar Center’s Pasadena store on March 27th.

“At Guitar Center, our mission is to help people make music, not only by providing a retail channel for consumers to purchase instruments, but through sponsorship of music education in our schools and providing free lessons to our customers,” said Guitar Center’s Pasadena store manager, Scott Smith. “When we heard of this horrible situation, it only made sense that we help by replacing as many stolen items as possible.”

Together, Guitar Center and Little Kids Rock replaced the following items stolen from the school:

 Behringer 212 active speakers  Monoprice condenser microphones  Peavey bass amplifier  Bass guitar  Electric guitar  Eight-channel audio mixer

"Marshall High School is thrilled to have the support and donations of Guitar Center in order to support the continued learning and performance of music inside and outside of the classroom,” said John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School’s music director, Joel Lopez. “The music program would not be where it is without the support of such excellent community partners and friends."

In 2014, Lopez attended Little Kids Rock’s free music workshop, where he and other teachers from the Los Angeles area were trained and equipped to launch the Little Kids Rock “Modern Band” program, which helps facilitate the teaching of popular musical styles that kids know and love, like rock, hip hop, country, blues and funk. More than 13,000 students in over 170 Los Angeles area schools currently run Modern Band programs, which complement traditional music programs like Choir, Orchestra, Marching Band and Jazz Band.

“When we heard that instruments were stolen from one of the schools we support, we were obviously devastated, especially since it is National Music In Our Schools Month,” says Little Kids Rock founder and CEO David Wish. “We are so grateful that Guitar Center could help replace the instruments on such short notice so that our kids can continue to unleash their inner music makers this school year.”

Little Kids Rock and Guitar Center have previously worked together to provide instruments to Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles, Calif. and will continue to support music education in additional schools in Los Angeles and nationwide.

Photo file 1: LKR_Photo1.JPG Photo caption 1: Pictured are Joel Lopez, John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School’s music director (Long–sleeved shirt and glasses); Scott Smith, Guitar Center Pasadena store manager (black shirt); and Little Kids Rock students from John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School (black LKR t-shirts), in Guitar Center’s Pasadena store.

Photo file 2: LKR_Photo2.JPG Photo caption 2: Pictured are Joel Lopez, John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School’s music director (Long–sleeved shirt and glasses); Scott Smith, Guitar Center Pasadena store manager (black shirt); and Little Kids Rock students from John Marshall Fundamental Secondary School (black LKR t-shirts), in front of Guitar Center’s Pasadena store.

About Guitar Center: Guitar Center is the world’s largest retailer of guitars, amplifiers, drums, keyboards, recording, live sound, DJ, and lighting equipment. With more than 260 stores across the U.S. and one of the top direct sales websites in the industry, Guitar Center has helped people make music for more than 50 years. With an unrivaled in-store experience, an industry-leading online presence and passionate commitment to making gear easy-to-buy, Guitar Center is all about enabling musicians and non-musicians alike to experience the almost indescribable joy that comes from playing an instrument. All we sell is the greatest feeling on earth. For more information about Guitar Center, please visit www.guitarcenter.com.

About Little Kids Rock: Little Kids Rock is a national nonprofit that is dedicated to unlocking children’s inner music- makers by revitalizing music education programming in public schools. The organization partners with school districts to train public school teachers to run its innovative Modern Band curriculum and donates all of the accompanying instruments and resources necessary to teach popular music. Little Kids Rock began as a schoolteacher’s vision to give his students access to music education that is relevant to them while diminishing budgets for the arts made that more and more difficult to do. What began as a single after-school guitar class has since exploded into a national movement that is bringing free, weekly music lessons to more than 190,000 public school children due to the efforts of nearly 1,200 teachers nationwide. To date, Little Kids Rock has served over 325,000 students. More info at www.littlekidsrock.org